Cover Story MURDERS ATHOME

Murder has a terrible new face, new motive and a new address.Across urban , seemingly normal people kill their closest relatives in the name of love, sex or jealousy.

By Damayanti Datta

he apex court will be looking into pillow covers and bed sheets. What is happening?” asked Justice A.K. Ganguly, on January 6, while hearing an appeal from Arushi’s parents, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. He refused to examine bed linen, a piece of evidence Tin the murder of the teenager at the Talwars’ Noida home in May 2008. His verdict was clear: the Arushi Talwar murder trial would begin on February 4 at a Ghaziabad court. The Talwars, who had been using the legal process to delay trial, had finally run out of options. Accused of killing their teenage daughter and the domestic help, they now face criminal proceedings to prove their innocence beyond all doubt. A lot more than bloodstained linen will now be under judicial scrutiny. Across urban India, bedrooms have become dangerous are- nas, of war, not love. The enemy is within, waiting to strike. In Bangalore, Kumar, a 27-year-old garment worker, hit his preg- nant wife in a fit of anger for demanding new clothes on New Year. The blow killed her on January 4. In , Gaurav Arora, 22,

ARUSHI TALWAR, FOUND DEAD AT HER Photoimaging by MADHU BHASKAR /www.indiatodayimages.com HOME IN NOIDA ON MAY 16, 2008 JANUARY 23, 2012 N INDIA TODAY 23 Cover Story MURDERS ATHOME

shot his two teenage cousins on discoloration and injury from brutal vi- G U E S T C O L U M N Dr T.D. Dogra January 2, because they inherited a olence. “It makes me unhappy to say much larger share of ancestral prop- this, but domestic murders are emerg- erty than him. In Chennai on January ing as a major trend,” he says. BODY OF EVIDENCE 7, a 56-year-old employee of a private The police agree. Increasingly de- company, Muthu Palaniappan, killed tectives have to force their way into The dead don’t speak but forensics tells us lots about crime his wife with a crowbar for fighting genteel apartments, corral and ques- s a forensic scientist, one encounters the dark and ugly side of inti- neighbours over TV noise. He told them tion aloof neighbours, and check fin- later: “I have solved the issue.” gerprints in a sea of modern gadgets as Amate relations. One of my first cases of homicide was a domestic An epidemic of domestic murders WHY I WHY I doctors search for foulplay on well- murder in the 1970s. I had just joined forensic medicine at AIIMS. has broken out over the past five years, clad corpses. “The crime graph is The police had brought in the body of a 75-year-old woman, a resident peaking in 2011. Police files show inti- KILLED KILLED changing,” states B.K. Gupta, Delhi of Lajpat Nagar, Delhi. It was natural death, we were told. But we found mate partner violence, driven by unre- Police commissioner. Property disputes that she had been strangulated manually. Police investigation revealed quited obsessions, hidden desires, illicit HIM HER and enmity, the usual bulk of urban that she was killed by her son for property. relations, jealousy, or a sense of being crimes across India, is stagnating at We came across the case of a wife, who refused to return to her wronged. In the midst of a busy news Confessional statements Confessional statements around 18 per cent since 2007-08, husband despite his requests. So he came over to her parents’ home, year, while headlines got bigger over by wives to police, in 2011-12 by husbands in 2011-12 shows National Crime Records Bureau dragged her out to his Maruti van and forced sexual intercourse on her repeatedly. And during the struggle, he strangulated her. Our the 2G scam, Anna Hazare’s protest or (NCRB) data. Crimes of passion and the rupee crisis, quietly, in the privacy He was a drunkard and used to ha- I was fed up with her.She nagged me provocation have upped from seven to post-mortem examination revealed the full extent of his actions, of the home, the “ordinary” Indian was rass me regularly. all the time to buy her jewellery. about 35 per cent during this time. particularly the vicious love bites. The DNA analysis of vaginal stains busy honing the extraordinary art of “They are unplanned and happen in sealed the case and he was charged with murder. I was fed up with his relentless murder. Not criminals, not psy- She made fun of me,the way I look moments of rage after heated argu- There was also the case of a 20-something young man with multiple demand for unnatural sex. chopaths, not dowry assassins or hon- and how I make love to her. ments.” Ninety-three per cent of the ac- stab wounds. Our examination revealed a homosexual orientation. It our killers. Just friendly next-door He was cheating on me. cused are first-timers belonging to all was a vital clue that helped the police nab the real culprit: a man who had invited the victim for a party and killed him with a sharp weapon. neighbours who, until the day they She would always call to check on strata of society—MBAs to auto drivers. He suspected that I was having an killed, looked perfectly normal. me and disturb me at work. Have homes become dysfunction- It is said that the dead can’t speak but for us they tell their own extramarital affair and would fight Who would have imagined that auto al? Urban families look as if they have tales. During autopsy, we study driver Ranjit Das, 46, of Guwahati could constantly over it. She would protest whenever I went a lot to celebrate: 46 per cent of India’s everything: tears, stains, cuts, soil- ing or foreign materials in clothing; decapitate his wife and then march He was a pervert.He watched porn to my parents’house. 295 million households splurged on body injuries, say, love bites, teeth through the streets, as he did in October films in front of our daughters. shopping and entertainment in a year 2011, just because he felt she had We weren’t on the same wavelength. of inflation; 67 per cent urban profes- bites or stains, for evidence of vio- He used to beat me when I wouldn’t lence; genitals for proof of forced cheated on him? Or that Anushree She was cheating on me. sionals are “happy” with their work; 60 Kundra, 39, a Bangalore professional, give in to his demands. or voluntary sexual activity. We check evidence of repeated vio- could visit her former boyfriend in Pune I wanted to be with my love. She called me impotent.I killed her. and, as recorded in October, burn his fi- GAURAV ARORA (RIGHT) lence, immediate cause of death, IN POLICE CUSTODY ance alive? Or that one day in Sept- strangulation, stabbing, blunt force or fire-arm injuries and for ember last year, Anita, 30, a ACCUSED GA URAVARORA, 22 homemaker in Betul, Madhya Pradesh, foreign materials—hair, fingernail VICTIMS Cousins Shivani Arora, who had never dared to refuse her hus- scraping, swabs or stains. band Ramcharan’s demands for ‘un- 19, and Vishal Arora, 16 Post-mortem changes give us the time of death: bluish-purple or natural sex’, would just snap. When he purplish-red discoloration under the skin after death that indicates the started to display indecent video clip- CAUSE Contested inheritance amount of reduced haemoglobin in the blood; rigor mortis or the stiff- pings on his mobile, she picked up a LOCATION DELHI ening and contraction of muscles that occurs two to three hours after stone and smashed his head in. WEAPON Country-made revolver death; signs of decomposition; asphyxiation and poisoning. The stale stench of death in urban Internal injuries or damage due to violence lie hidden deep in the homes is familiar to Dr T.D. Dogra who THE CASE It was 7.55 p.m. “Are body. Muscles are incised, and the three major body cavities—head, has for 40 years seen bodies in all you home? I’m coming.”His is chest and abdomen—are cut open. The moment you open up the stom- ach, typical smells speak volumes about the manner of death. Kero- stages of disintegration. The head of the last call on Shivani’s mobile. sene, alcohol, cyanides, everything gives off its own smell in the gut. forensic medicine at All India Institute He went down to the floor be- of Medical Sciences, Delhi, ferrets out DNA profiling plays a major role in establishing the identities of both low and shot the cousins point- the victim as well as the assailant. Here, biological trace evidence—from the dark, chilly secrets inside dead bod- blank. He rummaged through ies. Murder, in his experience, was gen- hair, skin, carpet fibres, paint, glass particles, dust, dirt, pollens, semen, the house to make it look like a erally the domain of professional saliva or sweat—left by the assailant at the scene or on the body of the robbery. His father gave the criminals. But these days, as he inves- deceased plays a major role. The corpses also tell us about the personal- tigates bodies sent in by the police, he police the first lead, saying ity of the murderers: the proprietary attitude towards partners or close is increasingly struck by the smell of Gaurav was unhappy about family members, the propensity towards violence, obsession with household chemicals in the viscera, the his grandfather’s will. weapons or the inability to let go of the closest relationship. They tell us to beware of people who threaten the people they ought to love most. The writer is professor and head of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences 24 INDIA TODAY N JANUARY 23, 2012 Cover Story MURDERS ATHOME

THE HINDU per cent between age 16 and 34 are ACCUSED CHAITANYAREDDY, 34 FATAL both religious and happy, with VICTIM Wife Kiran Reddy, 30 93 per cent acknowledging parental ATTRACTION help to get ahead in life, according to CAUSE Marital discord studies by Linked.in, MTV and the LOCATION H Y D E R A B A D National Council of Applied Economic WEAPON Pillow Research. Yet psychiatrists attest to ris- Sensational murders at home ing footfalls from Happy Indians. Dr THE CASE On June 17,2011, the that shocked the nation Harish Shetty sees “a lot of anger and couple went to a party organised very little fear of consequence” in many Alavandar case,Chennai,1952 by her brother. Chaitanya report- of his patients. “Verbalisation of feel- Alavandar, a businessman, was edly got drunk and behaved ings is a casualty of our times and pent beheaded in 1952 by Devaki, a up negative feelings are a bigger explo- badly at the party, yelling and woman he was chasing. The head, sive than an RDX bomb,” says the psy- fighting with the staff. On reach- washed up from sea, fitted neatly chiatrist working with Hiranandani ing home, they possibly had a on the body, found on a train. hospital in . tiff. Police investigation suggests The murder of Arushi Talwar was “mental and physical harass- one of the most dramatic episodes of ment”.Upset, angry and possibly 2008. Her parents projected the image inebriated, he smothered his of a happy family. “We were such a nice wife with a pillow before falling family,” Nupur Talwar said in a televi- into a drunken slumber. sion interview eight days after her NANAVATI SYLVIA daughter’s death. “I always used to ACCUSED ABHIJIT SIKANDAR, 31 AASTI SHEKHAR’S DISTRAUGHT think I must have done something good with noisy ACs and fans. If the police to 10, from ceiling fans in different PARENTS, IN BANGALORE Nanavati trial,Mumbai,1959 in my last life to get such a nice family.” pointed a finger at them, the parents rooms. The eldest daughter escaped VICTIM Aasti Shekhar, 25 Navy Commander K.M. Nanavati She portrayed her husband as a doting did so at murderers “out there”. when the knot came loose. The only was let off by the jury after killing CAUSE Extramarital affair father (“We were about to celebrate her The city of Pune witnessed its own trigger was a marital dispute. unclear and can range from punishing wife Sylvia’s paramour.The trial birthday. Rajesh told Arushi to call as version of such a crime. On December Ranaware was convinced that his wife, LOCATION B A N G A L O R E the mother to killing the child ostensi- gripped the nation’s imagination. many friends, even if it were to become 7, 2011, it woke up to the news that a Varsha, 32, was seeing other men. WEAPON Strangulation bly “for his own good”. expensive”), maintained that she “trus- father had strangled his four children Their fights ended in physical battery, Higher education or well-settled ca- ted” the murdered domestic help, before committing suicide. Chandra- for her as well as the children. Varsha THE CASE “Today (he) told me reers is no hindrance to barbaric Hemraj, 45, and insisted that at the end shekhar J. Ranaware, a 44-year-old left the house after one such incident about his girlfriends… I should crime. Case files record a number of of a heavy workday, it was quite possi- landowner, used his estranged wife’s two weeks before the killings. adjust with these things”—a leaf educated and economically-independ- ble to sleep through a murder at home saris to hang his four children, age four Going by police files, no kinship was from Aasti’s diary. After they got ent women as victims. Consider Dr SUSHIL sacred last year. Sons killed fathers married on February 27,2011, he Chandra Vibhash, 31, of a Delhi gov- SHARMA and fathers killed sons; mothers ernment hospital, who killed his 27- would turn the mobile speaker- The tandoor case,Delhi,1995 killed daughters and sometimes died phone and speak to a woman he year-old wife Supriya, an engineer with INTENT ON EVIL Then Delhi Youth Congress presi- in their hands. If in October, a 55- was involved with. On June 2, she an MBA degree, in September last year, year-old Elumalai was killed by his for not being “on the same wavelength” dent Sushil Sharma’s wife’s body Watch out for tell-tale signs of a potential killer was found hanging in her room. wife and two sons in Chennai, in as him. Earlier, in February, a 23-year- was fished out from a tandoor at Police charged him with death Sex obsession Your part- account or secret debts, December a 42-year-old Delhi man, old computer engineer, K. Sridevi, was a restaurant. He was convicted. ner makes excessive and ventures into dubious Milan Kumar, hired contract killers to caused by dowry harassment. allegedly killed by her husband, an- demands for sex, visits business investments. murder his father and usurp property other computer engineer, in Suhaib Ilyasi,Delhi,2000 prostitutes, is addicted worth Rs 1.5 crore. Bengal witnessed Hyderabad within a year of marriage. His anti-crime activism on TV to porn or has affairs. Blood blades Watch out two shocking cases of filicide: in a data shows that killing of children, or Heat of passion and sudden provo- serial India’s Most Wanted was a for the unaccounted pres- Kolkata suburb, police arrested a filicide, is not that uncommon, account- cation are hallmarks of the new crimes. hit. Ilyasi was held after his wife Research ruse A spouse ence or use of sharp in- man for his 28-year-old son’s murder ing for 8 to 14 per cent of all homicides According to studies conducted by Anju died under mysterious cir- with murder on their mind struments which could last August. He confessed to hiring across the world. A 2004 study Prateep V. Philip, inspector of police, cumstances but was later set free. is likely to spend hours re- easily double up as contract killers to get rid of him. A by Dewar Research, the Britain-based Tamil Nadu Police Academy, since searching—tools, timing, weapons of attack. property dispute proved thicker than research body on domestic violence, 1999, about 75 per cent of prisoners Maria Susairaj,Mumbai,2008 method and manner. blood. A woman killed her five-year- on six countries shows that a parent is are jailed due to decisions taken in a fit TV executive Neeraj Grover was Sometimes, it reflects Fear factor It’s time to old daughter after the toddler report- the principal suspect in up to 70 per of anger. And more than 40 per cent of killed by Kannada actress Maria pre-homicidal planning. raise the alarm if you feel edly spilled the beans on her mother’s cent of all family child homicides— the cases are over infidelity. “Men mur- Susairaj and her fiance, former scared of your partner: extramarital affair. biological fathers being responsible der more often because as a gender, naval officer Emile Jerome. Kill bill A disturbed mind verbal abuse, use of force The NCRB reports about 1,200 to for about 55 per cent of murders they are more suspicious and venge- Susairaj was held guilty of often has a waning bank or threats of violence. 1,400 child murders each year, but and mothers about 45 per cent. The ful,” says Philip. In Kerala, last July, destroying evidence and Jerome doesn’t indicate how or why. Global motives for harming children are often holidaying couple Shyamala, 34, and convicted for culpable homicide.

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Perfect murders gone wrong. Diabolical plots of some dangerous minds.

SEVEN G Rope-play. He cov- Pillay, 27, was dead, claimed two men en- 32, turned fatal for ered her eyes with a her body stuffed into tered their west Delhi Kanak. He killed her SLEAZY scarf and asked her a bag for disposal. house and stabbed with stones, dumped WAYS to touch him. Banga- Killed on suspicion of her husband Sonu, her body in a forest lore engineer Satish adultery. November 38, to death. The law and claimed that INDIANS Gupta then goaded 2011. caught up with Arti, she drowned in the wife Priyanka, 29, to G They met online her paramour and Ganga. October 2011. KILL imagine a burglary and fell in love. the hired goon. G Give a ‘supari’ to and tied her hands. Turned out Ludhiana September 2011. goons to murder your THEIR He then strangled man Jagdeep Singh, G Haridevpur,West wife and then make it her and slit her 30, was already mar- Bengal resident seem like a hit-and- SPOUSE throat. August 2011. ried. Bitterness Indrajit Pal, 41, at- run case. That’s what G “My wife eloped brewed. He choked tacked his wife of Delhi policeman with her lover after wife Gurpreet Kaur, 17 years, Mousumi, Mangal Singh did. He serving me tea laced 24, to death and then with a pair of scissors was furious with his with sedatives,”Delhi “ransacked” the for leaving him. wife Meena for regis- travel agency execu- house. The police May 2011. tering a dowry case tive Sumit Handa, 31, saw through the cha- G Honeymoon to against him. Meena, told the police. In re- rade. August 2011. Mussoorie with hus- however, survived. ality, wife Niranjani G Arti Sachdeva band Sachin Mishra, September 2011.

Maheshkumar, 42, came to a tragic from late 20s to early 40s. “They usu- with jealousy ruining their lives. end, when he caught her reading a text ally happen during the first 10 years of “They indicate serious stress and message from another man. He the marriage,” says Philip, “when pas- thinning out of relationships within stabbed her and then committed sui- sion and sexual desire peak.” the family,” says social psychologist cide in remorse. One out of five mur- If intimate relationships are hard- Ashis Nandy. Delhi executive Sumit ders in Delhi is due to illicit wired in romantic love, jealousy and Handa, 31, and 27-year-old NRI Nira- relationships and unrequited love, re- sex, these are also the top three mo- njani Pillay’s journey to the altar ports the NCRB’S 2010 report. The age tives for all murders. Police data shows started with two years of courtship but spectrum of murderous couples varies that most couples married for love, ended last November after four years

MID DAY of marriage, with Handa’s uncontrol- ACCUSED J AVED SHEIKH, 36 lable jealousy snuffing out his wife’s VICTIM Naved Sheikh, 22 life. He stabbed her, chopped her into pieces, stuffed those into a trolley bag CAUSE Affair with his wife and disposed of it miles away. He even LOCATION SANTA CRUZ , filed a police complaint that she had MUMBAI WEAPON Chopper left home with her lover, jewellery and cash. Police say, he wanted to set the THE CASE It was Naved’s phone stage for a “perfect murder”. calls at odd hours that aroused Crime is the best way of looking at Javed’s suspicion. His wife Riti, what is going on in society, they say. As 28, was having an affair with Arushi Talwar’s parents prepare for Naved. A week before the stab- the long haul in court, the nation will bing, in early October, he take a hard look at the mother of all caught them in a compromising questions: what does it take to turn pic- position on the terrace of the ture perfect family bliss into murder? With Lakshmi Kumaraswami, Kiran Tare, building where Riti’s parents Bhavna Vij-Aurora, Kaushik Deka, Mona live. Furious, Javed forced his Ramavat and Tithi Sarkar wife to call her paramour for a supposedly secret rendezvous JAVED’S WIFE RITI Click on iPad for the moving cover and killed him in front of her.

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